^{In all of the situations below, there has been an invasion of space.   Can you tell why?} 

^{1. A guest at a dinner party abroad says:}

^{“It’s late. I think we should call it a day”} 

1. 2. A visitor to someone’s office notices the clock on the wall is showing the incorrect time and says:

^{“Your clock is wrong. Let me put it right for you”} 

^{3. A host is looking at a laptop to find a date for a joint meeting with a guest and some investors. The guest, looking at the screen says:}

^{“Looks like you’re free Tuesday morning”} 

4. A delegate, at a conference abroad, comments that s/he’s off to the airport after the last session. Another delegate says:

^{“I’m going too. Why don’t we share a cab?”} 

⁵. ^{A guest is having lunch abroad with a senior host who says s/he is about to retire at the end of the year. The guest asks:}

^{“Did you get a good pension?”} 

^{Why are all the comments above likely to earn the speaker a         ?}

^{1. A host is master or mistress on home ground. A guest should not usurp the role of the host who usually chooses the restaurant, seats the guests, orders the wine, pays the bill and decides when it’s time to wrap up.}

<sup>2. Our hosts abroad do not need our help or advice in order to put things right. They have their own people to do that
It’s true that when we sent a rescue team to help earthquake victims in Turkey, the rescuers found 2 teams from England and Germany already there but waiting for instructions from their ‘hosts’. Fortunately our team didn’t have the same inhibitions and they later won accolades for their outstanding field hospitals and rescue work. But in a business environment, taking over most probably won’t earn you the same brownie points. 

3. Some years ago, there was a complaint to the Foreign Ministry about a trade delegation visiting in the US. Delegates were accused of being industrial spies because they asked so many questions, many not related to their field at all. Make sure you don’t cross invisible boundaries of private space either by asking too many questions or peering into a colleague’s laptop screen.</sup>

1. <sup>4. In most cultures abroad, space is compartmented. People don’t share it with strangers so don’t ask to borrow a part of a stranger’s newspaper or ask to look at a concert program or suggest sharing a cab even it makes good sense to you and may save a few bucks.
   
   5. Some topics are taboo in small talk with people you don’t know well. A buisness associate may not want to talk about sex, religion, politics and money. So what’s left you may ask? No wonder many Hebrew speakers find it difficult to make appropriate small talk in English.
   
   Do you wonder if you have you ever been a space invader? Why don’t you ask me about it?</sup>

 ^Lola